It's Like Building a Boat
by HermioneHuff
Summary: DiNozzo is having a hard time dealing with how much Ziva has taken from the team by leaving, and only has one way to express it. One-Shot.


**It's Like Building a Boat**

**I can't believe this is only my first NCIS Fanfiction. I mean, I'm pretty much obsessed with the show.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS, or I'd have written myself into it already as Abby's permanent assistant.**

Set during the first episode of Season Seven, when Tony is flashing back to after Ziva left when he's under the influence of the truth serum.

_I can't take this anymore, Ziva! Where are you and why haven't you contacted any of us? It's one thing to not be the first one to say something but to ignore us completely? Not even Abby can get through. I miss you, Ziva. This isn't right, this isn't normal. We can't do this without another member. It's like building a boat…_

The elevator dings open, as it does every morning, and out steps Timothy McGee, who heads towards his beloved work desk. He feels empty for unexplained reasons as he glances, not for the first time, at the empty desk where his co-worker Ziva David once sat.

McGee sits down at his desk, and plops his stuff down beside him. He hears a mumbling sound and turns towards the desk of his other co-worker Anthony DiNozzo. Seeing nothing, at least not Tony, he faces is computer again and boots it up.

As his computer was loading, he heard another mumble, louder this time. McGee stands up and walks over to the seemingly vacant desk. But sure enough, Tony was there, his forehead resting on the edge of the desk, his hands grasping his hair (seemingly for dear life) and mumbling.

"Are you okay there, Tony?" McGee asks, eyebrows raised.

Tony mumbles again, only this time it seemed like he was actually trying to form words.

"Tony?"

"It's not normal!" DiNozzo practically shouts, sitting up, his hands flying out of his hair and slamming on the desk as he spoke, startling McGee.

"What's not normal?" McGee replies, taking a step backward.

"Ziva. She hasn't contacted Abby, or Ducky, or Gibbs, or me, or…" Tony looks at his co-worker, eyes narrowed. "She hasn't contacted you either, has she Probie?"

"Uh, no…" McGee starts thinking about it. "You're actually on to something for once, Tony."

"Exactly!" Tony points his finger in a 'You-Just-Proved-My-Point' way at McGee, who became cross-eyed for a moment trying to keep the finger in his line of vision. "And we're lost without her. It's like building a boat—"

But how it was like building a boat, McGee didn't find out because at that moment their boss Leroy Jethro Gibbs walked in, coffee in hand. "How much do you even know about building boats, DiNozzo?"

"Next to nothing, boss." DiNozzo states, putting his hands down onto his desk and looking at them almost guiltily.

"We've got a dead marine, grab your gear." Gibbs commands, grabbing his own gear.

Tony gets a rush of determination and a great idea. He stands up and faces his boss. "No."

Gibbs does a double take, taking this in for a brief moment. McGee, who had already gotten his Crime-Scene supplies, freezes in place to stare at the phenomenon. _DiNozzo saying 'No' to Gibbs?_

"No?" Gibbs repeats, staring right at DiNozzo.

Tony feels like maybe he shouldn't have said it, but he keeps going with a glance at Ziva's old desk. "We can't do this anymore, Boss. We need someone else on the team. Before, we were the Three Musketeers to your King of France, and now we're just the two idiots to your…" Tony stops before he makes a bigger fool of himself. "…Gibbs."

"Hey!" McGee interjects. "I'm not an idiot! I have an I.Q. of—"

"Yes, well, that's nothing compared to how much we figured out and performed with Ziva here, is it?" DiNozzo crosses his arms across his chest, half-expecting an argument.

McGee opens his mouth to retort, but seems to agree and shuts it again.

"And, boss, it's like building a boat. I'm the nails and Ziva's the hammer because she keeps me in place but you'd be nothing without me. McGee is the sandpaper because he'll smooth everything over. You're the wood because you're the main part of the boat. Abby's the saw because she's the only one strong enough to control the wood and she gives the sandpaper something to do. Vance is the builder because he puts us all together. And, finally, Ducky is the glue because he knows how to keep us together, even when we can't think it possible. We're all the most expensive of our kind that money can buy because we're the best team. We've had our hammer taken so we can't build the boat. We either need to take our hammer back or buy a new, cheaper one. We can't buy a new one of what we had, they're one-of-a-kind. But we can't make a boat without a hammer.

"Boss, that desk can't stay empty forever. We need to take applications so we can fill it, if only temporarily." DiNozzo finishes.

"That was powerful, Tony." McGee states in awe.

"Thanks, Probie."

"Fine. Here are the applications." Gibbs lifts a big pile off his desk, putting half on McGee's and half on DiNozzo's. "I would have said 'Yes' without the big boat-speech though, DiNozzo."

They head for the elevator and leave for the crime scene, with higher hopes of surviving NCIS Ziva-less.


End file.
